Mini-me,

I fully accept that the situation that he ran into could happen to me. Maybe there was more to the story than what was in the article but the way I see it he had five days in which nobody was looking for him. In this case he took the only option he had and you have to give him credit for having the guts to do it. My point is that even a small thing like a broken leg can turn a hike into a nightmare.

Granted we can all come up with "what if" situations in which none of our preparations or plans will have worked and in those cases we will have to fall back on grit, knowhow, and the will to survive.

The point is that most things that turn into survival situations look pretty mundane going in. A day hike, an overnighter, etc.
Leaving a travel plan and carrying signalling equipment are basic precautions that get overlooked to people's harm.

My cell phone dosen't have a signal on the mountain where we went recently. I took my wife's, she gets a max signal there. The point being I took the time to figure that out because it's a good thing to have along in case I step in a hole and break an ankle. If I happen to smash the phone, or the sun isn't shining or a packrat made off with my whistle I guess I'll have to fall back on something that makes for a better story. Those skills are already in place, but really who wants to go there?

Could any of the things I suggested cause harm or put me into some overconfident fatal flaw? This guy lost his arm. That's serious and should give us pause as to how to avoid getting into such a desperate situation. After reading that article I came away with 1. Leave a plan and 2. Carry the means to signal. I didn't mean to sound cocky, as if it couldn't have happened to me. It can and I'm acutely aware of that when I'm out there. Mac